Received reports of drones being run out of colonies here in central Illinois.

If you have not done so already, you need to take stock of what you have on hand to get your colonies ready for winter.  If you need anything, then you need to built it or purchase it so it is available when you need it.

Items such as a wind break on the North and West sides of a hive if it does not already have one is important.

Mouse guards.  

Do you proactively treat for Nosema Apis?  If so, do you have the medication on hand?

Candy boards will ensure the hive does not starve (but do not put them on now).

If you have a varroa problem, then you may want to initiate a treatment for varroa as soon as you get your honey supers off and treat per the directions of whatever medication you utilize (such as Api-Guard).

Do you shut off your screen bottom boards?  Some bee keepers do, some do not.

Do you have sufficient paramoth crystals to protect your stored honey supers until next year?

What do you do which is not mentioned above?

With the cool nights becoming more frequent, if you have not already replaced your screen inner covers with conventional inner covers, you should do so. 

It will help the colony keep the temperature regulated and expend less energy to do so.

Update of old post:   If you use screen inner covers with #8 hardware mesh, you need to fortify it against Small Hive Beetles (SHB) by putting a layer of metal window screen above or below the hardware mesh.  The easiest approach is to cut metal window screen to the same footprint of the inner cover and staple it to the bottom of the inner cover.    Small Hive Beetles cannot get through the metal window screen